Gun-rights activists to descend on downtown Palo Alto

Decades ago, Palo Alto's downtown Lytton Plaza was the scene of protests by young activists testing their First Amendment rights to free expression.

Today, a group of gun-rights advocates will exercise their Second Amendment rights by congregating in the plaza with unloaded firearms in plain view. Bay Area members of the national "open carry" movement said they chose the city in part because it is one of the few in the state that has a municipal ban on gun possession.

Don't expect any '60s-style confrontations with authorities, however. Palo Alto officials said Friday they will not attempt to enforce the city's ordinance, since it is superseded by state law allowing people to carry guns openly as long as they're not loaded.

"We're not going to try to fight state law on this," said Palo Alto police Lt. Sandra Brown. "We're just going to let it happen."

The meet-up was organized by Paul Gregg, a 32-year-old systems consultant who lives and works in Palo Alto. He planned the event online via Facebook, Twitter and the discussion forum for the Web site OpenCarry.org, which has become ground zero for the national open-carry movement as it has taken off in the past five years.

Gregg said he's hoping for turnout comparable to that of a recent open-carry event in Walnut Creek that drew close to 100 people.

"The response has been overwhelming," Gregg said. "I have been answering e-mails and phone calls all week."

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The event is scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with the participants meeting in the plaza and strolling into downtown shops and restaurants while wearing their weapons on their belt loops. Brown sent an e-mail to local merchants on Thursday explaining the event and the relevant laws.

Police will have a couple of officers on hand to answer any questions and make sure things go smoothly, Brown said.

While privately owned stores have the right to turn away customers, she said, "we don't suggest that people panic, because there hasn't been a problem" with open-carry demonstrations in other cities.

While its firearm ban is unenforceable, the city can still enforce a clause in the ordinance that prohibits guns from being fired within city limits, Assistant City Attorney Donald Larkin said.

Gregg said his group doesn't expect any problems.

"We have found very little opposition from the public to lawful carry of firearms by their fellow citizens," he said in an e-mail to The Daily News. He noted that a Starbucks in Sunnyvale has become a hot spot for open-carry meet-ups after one activist called the company headquarters to confirm that it had no policy against the practice.

"Many of the folks are very passionate about open-carry and are big tippers," he said.

John Pierce, a gun-rights advocate from Virginia who co-founded OpenCarry.org, discussed the movement by phone while ordering parmesan-crusted chicken at a Noodles & Company restaurant in Minneapolis. He said the site has some 27,000 registered members and has spawned countless meet-ups in states across the country.

Asked what he would tell nervous Palo Alto merchants and residents, Pierce said, "I would tell them there are no more law-abiding people out there than gun owners. The best thing to do would be to follow the Starbucks example, which is to take a neutral policy and say, 'as long as you are obeying the law I will not discriminate against you one way or the other.' "